Inside Unmanned Systems

APR-MAY 2018

Inside Unmanned Systems provides actionable business intelligence to decision-makers and influencers operating within the global UAS community. Features include analysis of key technologies, policy/regulatory developments and new product design.

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6 April/May 2018 unmanned systems
inside
America's Unmanned Innovation Engine
EDITORIAL OPINION
Photos courtesy of University of Zurich, NASA, Airbus Defense & Space and NASA.
I
n this edition we take a detailed look at how
the innovation engine at America's space agen-
cy is driving progress in the unmanned sector.
NASA is contributing directly with drone soft-
ware (some certified) that can, for example, help
companies make their security case for beyond-
line-of-site operations and their safety case for
f lights over people. Its researchers have devel-
oped sensors that could enable new applications,
techniques to improve established technology and
UAS designs that may revolutionize how drones
are used (page 16).
NASA also has a treasure trove of technologies
that can be adapted to unmanned missions. This
issue's cover shows an incredibly f lexible, manipu-
lator arm whose design can be scaled for under-
water assembly, used to maneuver oil spill barriers
or adapted to give a construction robot the reach
it needs to paint the highest rafters.
The agency is willing to work with firms to help
them refine breakthroughs like this into profit-
able lines of business and its technology trans-
fer program has been updated with options that
make it easier for smaller firms to succeed.
In fact, the agency is working with companies
daily as it develops and tests the software and
operations framework that will become the UAS
Traffic Management (UTM) system. Not only
will it spin off to the commercial sector the soft-
ware necessary to make UTM work, it is opening
the doors for companies to provide things like
terrain maps and weather data. NASA is also
at the nexus of the next big development in the
drone industry—an expansion of UTM to enable
urban air taxis (page 34).
This special package of stories is part of our
continuing effort to inform readers about make-
it-work resources and tools. We regularly report
on useful research including software being devel-
oped to enable collision-free f lights in cities and
other cluttered environments (page 58) and key
issues to consider in drone mapping (page 54).
We also offer insights into the markets. In this
issue we bring you the conclusions of an expert
panel on what commercial drone services are
most viable now and what applications will take
more time to develop (page 45). Our coverage on
the market for military drones gives hard num-
bers and insights from one of the study's co-au-
thors into new competition from China (page 48).
Columnist Gen. James Poss puts the U.S. military
drone market into context with his discussion of
why it can be difficult for a service to bring un-
manned capabilities onboard (page 8).
Our correspondents in Wa shing ton and
Brussels strive to keep readers up-to-date on
regulatory trends like the slow march toward
EU-wide drone rules in Europe (page 62) and the
latest news on drone-related security issues in the
U.S. (page 66).
We hope you like this issue and, more impor-
tantly, we hope it helps make things work.